Range Resources shuts down Oklahoma City office

Lower prices for oil and natural gas have prompted Range Resources to shut down its Oklahoma City office and lay off at least 60 employees.

Workers were told this week that the Fort Worth-based company was closing the office and offering to move 30 employees to its headquarters.

“Low commodity prices have created a harsh reality that everyone in our industry is facing,” said Ray Walker, Range’s chief operating officer. “For Range that has included reductions in our capital spending this year and staff reductions.”

Range will maintain field offices in Tonkawa and Fairview in Oklahoma and in Pampa. The 60 employees laid off in Oklahoma were offered a severance package.

“This is not a decision that we take lightly,” Walker said. “We still believe in our Oklahoma properties and the people who work for us at our field offices across Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle area. We are confident we can weather the current commodity price environment.”

The MidContinent operations handled by Oklahoma City will now be handled of Fort Worth by the technical team that previously managed the company’s Barnett Shale and Conger properties.

Range sold most of its Barnett Shale properties in 2011 for $900 million to focus on more lucrative plays including the huge Marcellus Shale natural gas field in the Northeast. Range now has about 1 million net acres across Pennsylvania in the Marcellus, Utica and Upper Devonian shale formations.

The Midcontinent division is focused on projects across its 360,000 net-acre position in Texas and Oklahoma. Current, projects primarily include horizontal wells in the Mississippian Chat play along the Nemaha Ridge, and St. Louis wells in the Texas Panhandle.

In addition, Range also has acreage in the Granite Wash, Cleveland and Woodford Shale plays, all of which is held by production.

This story was originally published February 20, 2015 at 12:08 PM with the headline "Range Resources shuts down Oklahoma City office."